Passive energy harvesting from human motion or mechanical vibrations is of great interest for portable electronic devices. Piezoelectric, capacitive, and magnetic transduction mechanisms have all been explored for extracting electrical energy from mechanical motion. Of these, magnetically-based (electrodynamic) transduction is well suited for low-frequency, large-amplitude vibrations or fast rate of change motion or vibration, particularly for human-induced motions.
The present invention may be defined as an energy harvesting generator or electromagnetic energy transducer, that describes and teaches methodologies and means for eliminating a battery, to power microelectronic circuitry that require small amounts of sporadic power to circuits e.g. those that function as a short burst ISM Band transmitter or transceiver, and other classes of microelectronic circuitry for switching, monitoring and sensing systems where it would be advantageous to avoid the pitfalls of using a battery such as where temperature, ambient weather conditions, or isolated and remote locations not favorable for maintaining or changing a battery due to security constraints or other limiting factors that would impede changing a battery.
Prior art currently utilizes a simple magnetic circuit make and break connexion of magnetic pole field lines shorting make connexion or a magnetic pole field lines open or break connexion situation, where the main problem with this type of energy harvester is that the time period for such electrical energy generation is less than 10 milliseconds and the amount of energy produced is extremely small. The overall disadvantages also remain in the use of mechanical springs to “flip” a magnetic element that either shorts out the magnetic field thus collapsing the field or during a less than 10 millisecond flip transition, the magnetic field expands due to a momentary ‘none-connect’ of the shorting element. At best, such prior art remains as a simple example of a mechanical impulse type of energy transducer and limited by the very action that it relies upon; and thus limiting the time duration and power output of this prior art.